Abiding In Christ

 Temple Baptist Church - 1-11-2026

John 15:1-11

Introduction: 

A.  Jesus Christ is the True Vine, and God the Father is the husbandman—the one who tends the vineyard. When a person comes to Christ by faith, he or she is born of that vine and draws life and fruit from it.

 

B.  These verses have been interpreted to say that a man can be saved and then lost, but this is not what Christ is saying.  These verses speak of fellowship, not relationship.  Relationship is established through birth, salvation, but fellowship is established through kindred spirits.

 

Acts 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

 

C.  As saved, we have our life in Him, and our productivity comes through Him.

 

Colossians 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

 

Romans 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

 

D.  The problem with this interpretation is found in the vast number of “supposedly” saved who go back to the old way of life because they were never attached to the True Vine.  True Branches grow out of the True Vine and draw their life and nourishment from Him.  No sap; no fruit; no branch!

 

E.  If Christ is the True Vine, and He is, then it is only through Christ that we have life.  It is only through Christ that we produce spiritual fruit, therefore our goal and desire should be to abide in Him.

 

1.  What Abiding in Christ is not:  It is not surviving!  I heard people say that they were hanging on, holding out, or enduring to the end.  Lives full of discouragement and defeat.  Living lives of quiet desperation and disappointment.  I know that life is hard, but we are victorious, on the winning side! 

 

2.  Abiding in Christ is thriving in Christ.  Not just surviving but knowing the fullness of God’s blessings and peace of heart and mind.  Not just producing a grape here or there but producing clusters of succulent grapes.

 

3.  God wants us to prosper in Him!  Happy, holy, well-adjusted, satisfied, thrilled, and fruitful.  Being in Christ has many wonderful things that go along with it, such as protection and provision, but abiding in Christ is so much more.

 

F.  God gave us 3 great invitations in Matthew 11:28-30.

 

“(1) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  (2) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: (3) and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

 

1.  The Invitation of Salvation.  “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  We had the help of the drawing of the Holy Spirit.  We came to Christ and have never been sorry!

 

2.  The Invitation of Service.   “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.”  We have the help of the power of the Holy Spirit!  We gave our lives to God as well as our hearts.  Now we have the privilege of “Living for Jesus.”

 

3.  The Invitation of Sanctification. (Abiding in Christ) “And ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”   In days of so many falling to the wayside because of sinful lives.  Leaving the things of God as Demas did, having loved this present world.  We need to be abiding!  “Abide with me, fast grows the evening tide; the darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide!”

 

G.  That last invitation is to “Abide in me!”  Christ is simply saying, “Stay with me!”  Shall we not find Him as faithful in sanctification as we found Him in salvation?  It is only then, abiding in Christ, that we will find rest for our souls.

 

H.  Abiding in Christ is to:

 

1.  Set at His feet as Mary sat - Luke 10:42  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. 

 

Martha scolded Mary for sitting at the feet of Christ.  The world and worldly believers will do the same.

 

2.  Meditate upon His Word - Psalms 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

 

What do we meditate on?  Acceptance with the world or acceptance with Christ?

 

3.  Listen to His voice - 1 Kings 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

 

What do we hear in our hearts?  The voice of the world calling us to be like them or the voice of the Lord calling us to be like Him?

 

4.  Walk in His steps - Job 23:11  My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

 

Matthew 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

 

The gate is the Door to heaven.  It is strait because it is Christ alone.

The Way is narrow because the Way is Christ alone. 

 

Conclusion:  Are we closer to God than we were a year ago, or are we closer to the world than we ever thought that we would be?

1.  Abiding in Christ implies the we are one with Christ - John 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  (Some never abide because they are not attached!  You must “get in” before you “get out!”)

2.  Abiding in Christ means that we are in constant communion with Christ at all times - 2 Corinthians 13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. (The connection between the branch must never be broken for to do so cuts off the flow of sap that gives both life and fruitfulness.)

3.  Abiding in Christ involves our total dependence upon Him - John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  (As the branch is nothing, the child of God is nothing without Christ.  It is the flow that sustains our spiritual lives.)

4.  Abiding in Christ involves total obedience to Him - John 15:9-10, 14-15  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love…Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.  (The branch does as the vine dictates.  It bears after the will of the vine.  As a branch must bear the right fruit, so the child of God must bear the right spiritual fruit.)

5.  Abiding with Christ is a continual fellowship -  John 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  (As long as the branch is attached to the vine, it is one with the vine.  As the vine prospers, so the branch prospers.  If we abide in Christ’s fellowship, we prosper.)